Hon. Wirba Skips Opening of 2017 Legislative Year

Hon. Joseph Wirba of Bui South Constituency was the most notable name on the list of MPs who failed to turn up for the opening session of the 2017 legislative year in Cameroon, that took place at the National Assembly, Monday morning, March 13, 2017.

Hon. Joseph Wirba captured the attention of the world and the hearts of Anglophone Cameroonians in December 2016 during the 3rd session of parliament where he took to the rostrum to vehemently defied and accused the Yaounde regime and its forces of atrocities against Anglophones students and the general population and of systemic policies of marginalization of the Anglophones in the Cameroon union.

His speech in that session (“I injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty”) has been credited in many quarters for inspiring the Anglophone struggle today by uniting the entire Anglophone community behind the teachers’ and lawyers’ strike that has since brought the two Anglophone regions into a standstill with a general civil disobedience movement against the authorities in Yaoundé.

Hon. Wirba’s presence at this session of parliament was highly anticipated by all for various reasons. There were romours before this session that his parliamentary immunity would be uplifted to pave the way for his arrest for inciting and promoting the Anglophone crisis. This was considered so because Mancho Bibixy, Dr Fontem Niba and Barrister Nkongo Bella and scores of other Anglophones have been arrested and transferred to Yaoundé since he made that speech.

The vice president of the National Assembly, Hon. Mbah Ndam Joseph and member of the SDF party to which Hon. Wirba belonged to in an interview with Cameroon-info.net said he was was simply absent from the opening session like other MPs.

Hon. Joseph Wirba has not been seen in public since his last outing in a rally in Kumbo on January 14, 2017 and the arrest of the consortium leaders a few days after the Kumbo rally that was also attended by Mancho Bibixy. His whereabouts remains uncertain, with some sources hinting that he has escaped to Nigeria and others saying to the United States.